RLSS UK partners with travel experts

The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) has teamed up with the work and travel experts, Smaller Earth, to train thousands of young people as lifeguards.

Founded in 1999, Smaller Earth uses its work and travel programmes to ‘inspire people to go further’. The organisation has 15 international offices and has sent more than 50,000 people on life-changing adventures around the world.

Under its popular Camp Leaders brand, Smaller Earth sends thousands of young people to America and Canada every year to work in summer camps, which provide a range of activities for youngsters typically aged six to 16. Recruits perform a range of roles from camp counsellors and support staff to activity specialists and lifeguards, over a season of eight to 10 weeks.

Smaller Earth has now partnered with RLSS UK, the leading provider of lifeguard training, to promote the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ) to its lifeguards. Delivered by IQL UK, the training subsidiary of RLSS UK, the training will ensure that young people will have the knowledge and skills to ensure the safety of those in and around water.

Head of Marketing at Smaller Earth, Dean Maddocks, said: “The partnership is a fantastic opportunity for those interested in working abroad. We’ve always strived to give our participants the best experience possible and with the RLSS UK, we’re thrilled to be able to promote NPLQ training and provide young people with the opportunity to take this skill abroad and further.”

As part of the deal, RLSS UK will promote Smaller Earth and its work and travel programmes to all newly qualified lifeguards.

Keith Osborne, Head of Commercial, at IQL UK says: “We are delighted to partner with Smaller Earth, which works with hundreds of summer camps across America and Canada. By training young people in the NPLQ - the pinnacle of lifeguard training – Smaller Earth will help ensure a safer environment for the millions of children who go to camp every summer.”

Do you have a qualification in RLSS TA and want to join a key team of staff working across sites to deliver essential staff training to ensure high standards of Lifeguarding, operational knowledge and service standards?

As we approach autumn and children start to prepare for their return to school, I thought it would be an excellent time to focus on the environment, our work with young people and how I see both of these elements, as key to the future development of RLSS UK.

If you are an experienced First Aider, Pool Lifeguard, Open Water Lifeguard, Beach Lifeguard, Swimming Teacher with National Rescue Award or Pool responder with ER Pool then this could be the next step for you.